nice starting point..

Interim results Wednesday 25th February.

Half Yearly Report

First half housing completions at highest level in six years

· Completion volumes(1) increased by 12.5%

· Significant step up in the rate of site openings, with nearly 100 new sites (including JVs) opened in the half year

· Build cost pressures moderated as the supply of materials and labour increased

· Land market remains attractive with good supply of high quality new development opportunities

· Disciplined approach has increased ROCE(2) by 740 basis points to 21.6% for the 12 months to 31 December 2014

CEO to step down after nine years

Jefferies International lifts Barratt Developments to hold from underperform, target raised from 379p to 567p

Well done Jefferies - not bad seeing as the price is nearly there!!

I just posted about broker targets on the MONI thread .....seriously take some charts and prices in to an infant school and let them set targets .

My professional target view for today is 558p , oops that's exactly where it is .

Interim Management Statement

Strong market conditions - increased output levels and record forward sales

· Market conditions have remained strong throughout the period with high levels of demand for new build homes across the country

· Net private reservations per week increased to 289 (2014: 280) for the period with a sales rate of 0.74 (2014: 0.77) net private reservations per active site per week

· Housing completions for FY15 expected to be ahead of previous guidance at c. 16,100 (FY14: 14,838) (including joint ventures ('JVs'))

· Total forward sales (including JVs) up by 17.9% as at 10 May 2015 to £2,592.3m (11 May 2014: £2,199.3m)

· Launched 64 new developments in the period and expect to deliver further controlled volume growth in FY16

· Continue to secure excellent operational and strategic land opportunities across all regions which meet or exceed our minimum hurdle rates

May 26: Deutsche; Buy and raises TP to 659p

sold my recent purchase of this one for a very nice profit as sp is looking a bit toppy
i'm sure i'll be re-investing in due course, but i think the market in general could be due for some correction, especially with the summer doldrums nearly upon us

June 3: JP Morgan: Overweight - TP: 650p

Interim Management Statement

Highlights

· Total completions, including joint ventures ('JVs'), increased by 10.8% to 16,447 (2014: 14,838) reflecting strong consumer demand and increased site numbers

· Private average selling price up by c. 8% to c. £262k (2014: £241.6k), driven by further changes in mix and underlying house price inflation

· Profit before tax expected to increase by c. 45% to c. £565m (2014: £390.6m)

· Return on capital employed ('ROCE')(1) increased by c. 430 basis points to c. 23.8% (2014: 19.5%)

Final Results

Highlights
· Significant increase in housing completions with the Group4 responding to strong consumer demand across all regions
· Private average selling price increased by 8.7% to £262,500 (2014: £241,600) driven by further changes in mix and house price inflation
· Profit before tax increased by 44.8% to £565.5m (2014: £390.6m)
· ROCE up 440 basis points to 23.9% (2014: 19.5%)
· Strong cash generation resulting in net cash at 30 June 2015 of £186.5m (2014: £73.1m)
· Continued to secure excellent land opportunities, approving 16,956 plots for purchase and maintained a controlled land supply of 4.5 years
· Significant step up in the delivery of strategic land with 17% of FY15 (FY14: 10%) completions from strategically sourced land

Record cash returns
· Total FY15 capital return of £250m (2014: £102m), equating to 25.1 pence per share (2014: 10.3 pence per share)

Wrong thread CC!!! Might want to delete all of that!

Sorry!

Sales well ahead at Barratt Developments

StockMarketWire.com

Barratt Developments has reported that market conditions remain strong, with high levels of consumer demand across all regions.

Net private reservations per week increased by 12.5% to 261 (2014: 232) since the start of July with a sales rate of 0.70 (2014: 0.63) net private reservations per active site per week.

Total forward sales (including joint ventures (���JVs��")) are up by 20.7% to £2,499.7m (2014: £2,071.7m).

The company says that to address the need for additional skilled labour, it has recruited 250 graduates, trainees and apprentices for next year.

As previously announced, the Board has proposed a record dividend payment of over £200m.

David Thomas, chief executive commented: ��SAgainst the backdrop of a significant structural shortage of new homes in Britain, we have made a strong start to the year.

"Operationally the business is performing well with strong sales, good control of input costs and continued land investment. Our targeted recruitment programme has delivered a further 250 new apprentices, graduates and trainees to the business.

"With our disciplined strategy and focus on achieving efficiencies across the business, we are on track to deliver further good progress in FY16. The outlook is positive and we are driving towards our FY17 targets of at least a 20% gross margin and at least a 25% return on capital employed.⬝

Trading statement http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5191943

Barratt hikes divi as op. profits rise

StockMarketWire.com

Barratt Developments reports a strong first half with total completions - including joint ventures - up 9.4% at 7,626 and operating profits up 34.7% at GBP301.8m.

And the group reports a strong start to the second half with 260 (2015: 279) net private reservations per week at a rate of 0.71 (2015: 0.71) net private reservations per active site per week. Total forward sales including JVs as at 21 February up by 13.4% to �2,579.5m (22 February 2015: �2,275.3m).

Profit before tax increased by 40.3% to �295.0m, gross margin improved by 1.2 percentage points to 18.6% and operating margin improved by 1.9 percentage points to 16.1%. ROCE for the 12 months to 31 December 2015 was up by 3.9 percentage points to 25.5% showing in part the results of actions to improve returns, as well as being boosted by a high level of completions (including JVs) in the calendar year of 17,102 (2014: 15,614).

The interim dividend of 6.0p per share is up 25% on last time.

Black Rock Inc. go above 5%: http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/posts.php?tid=13208#lastread

Are Housebuilders Persimmon plc, Barratt Developments plc & The Berkeley Group Holdings plc’s 12%+ Falls Offering Investors Another Opportunity?

Thursday 23 June ticks ever closer to what could prove to be the most important decision that the people of this country make in a lifetime - whether to remain a member of or leave the European Union.
The result of the vote, I suspect will have a significant effect on FTSE 100. Whether that's positive or negative will depend on which way the vote goes on the day. However, much like the UK's General Election last year, I think that the results are just too close to call.

Short-term opportunity?

There's no doubt that the fast approaching referendum is causing a great deal of uncertainty with many individual stocks. As we can see from the below chart, the three shares under review today have all been negatively impacted by the economic uncertainty events like this can cause.

Most notable is London-focused Berkeley Group

The UK's main exchange for buying and selling shares in public limited companies.
LSE:BKG) with the shares losing 20% over the last three months. That seems rather strange for a business, which in March informed the market that earnings for the year ending June 2016 would be at the top end of analyst expectations. Indeed, if this was a share in a different sector then I think it would be safe to say that the shares would have rerated.
This theme holds true with both Persimmon (LSE:PSN) and Barratt Developments (LSE:BDEV) too, with both companies reporting general consumer confidence supported by a growing economy and good availability of credit.

When these factors combine with other positive trends the outcome is a positive trading environment. So to me, the downward movement in the share price for all of these housebuilders is more down to sentiment than current trading. The uncertainty of an out vote, and more importantly the concern of the effect this would have on consumer confidence, are both impacting the shares.

Longer term gain?

Turning to the longer-term three-year chart (which allows us to relax a little more as some of the price swings that come with owning shares don't look quite as scary) and we can see that all three companies have outperformed the FTSE 100 benchmark by some margin.
Indeed, it's interesting to see that these shares are either at or approaching the level where they stood prior to the 7 May General Election. If you cast your mind back 12 months you'll recall the prospect of a hung parliament, a proposed mansion tax and uncertainty surrounding the help-to-buy scheme
As it turned out, the Conservatives gained a majority and as the chart showed the housebuilders enjoyed a particularly strong rally



Upgraded dividend appeal

As readers who are familiar with my articles will already be aware, I'm a big fan of dividends. I find that this can have a positive effect on company management by providing an anchor to the board, so that they remain disciplined in the allocation of my capital.
And to me it seems that this theme is continuing with all the businesses promising to return excess capital to shareholders.
With the current share price falls, investors who buy now can expect yields of between 6% and 7% - although it may be wise to wait and see whether we wish to remain in Europe first.